I recently visited the US. To enter the country, you have to have your picture and fingerprints taken at the border. If you visit somewhere that requires an entry card, you also have to have you fingerprint scanned to make sure you are the same person using the card for whom it was purchased for (ie, you can't hand your unused tickets on to someone else.
I thought that was bad enough but I looked out of my bedroom window this morning to see a DVLA van, Loaded with cameras, cruising my street. I presume it was looking for cars parked on the street with no tax and any parked on driveways with no tax or SORN. If the authorities can apply this method of control over the car tax you pay, how come they can't even tell if the person teaching your kids is safe to do so?
I think it's about the will to do so. The government thinks more about getting in the revenue which is why they spend more money linking systems to chase you for money, then they do linking systems to protect individuals.
Big Brother IS watching you - George Orwell was right!